Dragic Makes NBA.com's MVP Ladder

Hey, we didn’t say it. The guys over at NBA.com are hinting at it, though, after featuring the Slovenian guard in their weekly Race to the MVP Ladder.

And he’s expected to be there for a while, apparently.

“…Dragic is firmly entrenched on the KIA Race to the MVP Ladder this week and perhaps beyond. He's turned in an All-Star January, averaging 22.3 points on 52 percent shooting, 46 percent from beyond the 3-point line, to go with his 6.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals.

For the season, he's posting career numbers across the board, doing so for a team he's helped revive this season under first-year coach Jeff Hornacek.”

Dragic came in ninth out of the top 10, ahead of Portland’s Damian Lillard, who was named an All-Star reserve on Thursday.

NBA.com acknowledged Dragic’s absence from the midseason classic while saying “we didn’t make that same mistake here.”

That mistake might have been a little more pronounced after Dragic led the Suns to their second win over the Indiana Pacers in an eight-day span. He scored 28 points on Thursday night going up against the best defense in the league, which earned the following praise from Grantland.com’s Zach Lowe:

Not sure I've seen anyone in two seasons take the ball as fearlessly at Hibbert as Dragic did tonight. Phoenix, man. What a story.